A Cursed Gift
by Stompystomp
Summary: Cross-over fiction of the 2013 Disney movie Frozen and the Iron Kingdoms setting developed by Privateer Press. A basic knowledge of the Iron Kingdoms is not needed, since I have a glossary for extensive explanations: goo [dot] gl [slash] wTpjMS Knowledge of Frozen is required. Rated M for excessive violence. Iron Kingdoms belongs to Privateer Press. Frozen belongs to Disney.
1. Chapter 1

**Kovosk Hills, South-Eastern Khador, 605 AR**

BANG! The huge steam-driven hammer fell for a second time, the ice cracking a bit more. Elsa struggled to strengthen and reinforce the ice barrier again, but the huge Grolar's continued pounding away, its giant 1-ton hammer too much for the brittle ice. BANG! The third blow landed, cracking the ice almost to the breaking point. Finally giving up on the barrier, she turned and ran. Mere seconds after the former countess of Arendelle had started running, the Grolar smashed through the ice and charged after her, its 11-ton frame thundering onward and causing the earth to shake beneath her. Leaping over the edge of the cliff, she thought back to how this all had started and cursed herself for not predicting any of this.

**Arendelle County, Northern Llael, 603 AR**

It was a warm summer day in Arendelle. Duchess Elsa stood in the window of her manor, looking out into the sunset. The sun was currently setting over the nearest village, the one she was most closely overseeing. It had been a nice day. A few villagers had been on visit, but almost all of them had been here with requests. Only one had visited with anything else in mind. The villager's name was Anna, a sweet young girl with auburn hair that Elsa had been happy to call a friend ever since they were just kids. It was nice to receive visits such as this. Especially since the estate was empty and lonely most of the time. Ever since Elsa's parents had died four years ago, she had been living alone, her only company the servants and maids that tended to her needs and took care of her. She couldn't call any of them her friends, though.

Today, Anna had been here because she wanted to discuss something with the duchess. Lately, Elsa had been drastically shortening the periods she was receiving visitors, a fact that the young Anna was worried about, and had confronted Elsa with this. After a long, heated discussion, she had told Anna to leave and never come back, slamming the door in her face.

For as long as Elsa could remember, she had been gifted with the power of magic, an uncommon, but not unheard of trait in humans. There were even legends about human followers of Thamar who had mastered simple magic without even exhibiting the Gift beforehand. The Gift had always been in Elsa's family, skipping a generation now and then, but Elsa was the first in this century that had shown it. A few weeks ago, however, Elsa's magic had begun… Misbehaving. Usually, the duchess would have had trouble manifesting even a light breeze, but nowadays there were times when entire rooms froze without her even wanting them to. As a result, she had cut the staff down to an absolute minimum and told the remaining to stick to strict routes during the day. This was so she could avoid them. Visiting hours and her number of daily requests had also been cut down to a fragment of what it was before. Humans with the Gift were incredibly valued in the Western parts of Caen, but when they couldn't control it, extreme measurements were usually taken to ensure their Gift did not harm anyone but themselves.

She had always been taught that one's Gift for magic could be improved through studies, and so she had sought out her family's old library a lot in the last half-month. Elsa had read countless books on the subjects of Thamar, a god that was widely considered heretical, but was also said to bestow magical powers and gifts upon her followers, and infernals, hellish creatures said to exist in the void between this life and Urcaen that would strike deals with people desperate enough to sell their souls. Most of her studies had been concentrated on whatever Iosan texts she could find, though. The reclusive elves, even though they had been hiding behind impenetrable walls for almost a millennia, were said to be undisputed masters of magic. Sadly, in the end nothing had helped, and she was losing more and more control as each day went by.

_A few months later, winter of 604 AR_

Over the last few months, Elsa had learned that her Gift was more closely tied to her emotions than was the case for most humans. As such, she had started meditating, running complex emotional scenarios in her head to prepare herself for whatever the day might bring. She had begun rehiring some of the old staff, and had opened the gates a bit again, but she still wasn't ready to see Anna. Whenever the redhead came to visit, Elsa had instructed her servants to tell the girl that she was in court with someone else.

Rumours of a Khadoran invasion had also begun circulating in the county, and this of course worried Elsa. One day when she was taking a walk in her gardens, a familiar face walked toward her. It was Anna. Her expression was filled with rage, and yet Elsa could not help but feel lighter, as if the weight of the world was being lifted off her shoulders just because Anna was near.

"What in the name of Morrow do you think you are doing?" the redhead shouted, anger dripping like venom from her voice. "I have been worried sick about you. First you tell me to leave and never come back, then you shut the gates entirely for the public, and now you take visits from everyone but me? And what about the rumours of the Khadoran invasion? What are you going to do about that?"

Elsa just stood there, staring into those big, beautiful blue eyes. "I- I'm sorry Anna," was all she managed to get out of her mouth. It felt like her brain was shutting down. What in Urcaen _had _she been doing? Anna was the only person that had made her feel loved since her parents died, and she had refused to see her. This seemed all wrong. 'Damn it Elsa, don't do this,' she thought to herself and was just about to open her mouth again to explain herself when Anna broke her off with a hug.

Elsa was almost shocked at the sudden display of affection from her childhood friend. Yes, they had hugged countless times as kids and even as young adults, but after her parents' death, they had just kind of stopped. Finally her brain caught up with her body, and Elsa returned the hug. They just stood there for what felt like several minutes before Anna begun drawing away. "Elsa, you know I care about you. Please just tell me what is going on," she said, tears in her eyes.

Elsa just smiled and took Anna's hand. "Walk with me, I'll explain everything, as long as you keep it a secret. I could get hanged for this," she said, the last part of her sentence accompanied by a stone cold face that punctuated the gravity of the situation.

She was just about to start explaining it all to Anna when the finely trimmed bush beside her exploded in a cascade of fire and shrapnel. Reacting quickly, Elsa threw up a thin ice barrier that took the worst of the impact, but a small amount of shrapnel got through and shredded her winter garments. "Run!" she shouted to Anna and pushed her in the direction of the village.

Passing the gate, she shouted to the guards who were scrambling to get their footing after almost being hit by a shell that had landed close to them. "Sound the alarm! We're under attack!"

Grabbing a long rifle from one of the corpses, she shoved it into Anna's hands and stared into her eyes "Take this, defend yourself," she said and the redhead nodded resolutely, but it was clear that Anna had never even held a rifle before.

Shoving Anna onwards again, Elsa set course for the village. Her responsibility was to protect it, no matter what happened. She just hoped she would be able to keep her magic in check. Invasion was not one of the scenarios she had practiced in her mind.

When they reached the village, everything was chaos. The citizens were running in every direction, and some had even started looting whatever stores they could find. This was all a bit much to handle, but Elsa managed to keep a lid on the power inside her that boiled and begged to be let out. That's when she noticed it, though. Anna was no longer by her side. The one thing that had kept her grounded enough to keep her gift stable had disappeared without a trace. "Anna!" she called out and looked everywhere around her. She spotted a patch of red hair in the middle of the mass of people and started running toward it. Anna wasn't there. Panicking, spinning and doing everything in her power to find the girl, Elsa didn't notice the runes starting to swirl around her hands and at her feet. The bright blue runes swirled faster, and the villagers started to dissipate around her, forming a large circle. Elsa didn't notice this and with a pained yell, she released the pent-up magic.

A blast of cold wind knocked the bystanders from their feet and spikes of ice manifested from nothing in a circle around the duchess. A few villagers had not been fortunate enough to get out of the way, and were impaled on the ice. The crowd stared at Elsa in disbelief, and she herself didn't quite believe what she had done. "Please, I'm sorry, I didn't mean for this to happen," she could hear her own voice saying. It was weak, pathetic, and almost non-existent. She started backing away, keeping her hands close to her chest, afraid to hurt anyone else. She had barely turned around before the world exploded around her as yet another shell from the Khadoran invasion landed, right in the middle of the gathered villagers. Muttering a silent prayer to Ascendant Rowan, patron of the lost, she turned and ran, hoping Anna had not been hurt by herself, or by the Khadorans.


	2. Chapter 2

**A Cursed Gift, chapter 2**

* * *

It felt like she had been running for hours when Elsa finally stopped. The snow was thick out here in the fields where the villagers rarely came during the winter and her shredded winter clothes offered little protection from the cold sting of the weather. Remembering one of the many books she had read over the course of the last three months, Elsa started to trace the runes for _protection _and _cold_ in front of her, fuelling them with her magic, but stopped in the middle of the process. Was this really the time to start using her magic to her own benefit? She had just killed people because she couldn't control it, and maybe she had hurt Anna, too. Dismissing the runes, Elsa decided she could endure the cold for a while longer and hafted the axe she had taken from a fallen Khadoran Winter Guardsman during her flight from Arendelle.

Aimlessly, she wandered about on the outskirts of Arendelle for almost a day before finally spotting a small hut with smoke trailing out of its chimney. 'Finally, a place to rest,' she thought to herself and trudged toward the warm and inviting building. Coming up on the building, she could see another smoke trail, separate to the one emanating from the hut's chimney. "There's a 'jack there," she whispered to herself, mentally preparing to defend herself the best she could against one of the autonomous steel giants that were commonly used for labour and war in Western Immoren. Equipping her stolen axe, she went for a more sneaky approach and crouched down as the snow got shallower close to the hut.

When Elsa had reached the house, the dark had started descending on the border between Laell and Khador. The sounds of nocturnal beasts had begun spreading throughout the country and she herself had pressed her back up against the outside wall of the small hut. She could hear a voices from inside. The voices seemed to be having a conversation with each other, but sometimes they interrupted each other. Sneaking a peek inside, Elsa could only see one person, however. A tall, blonde man who talked with a clear Cygnaran accent. Whoever he was talking to had to be situated in the corner she couldn't see. Looking around the corner, she spotted the origin of the second, smaller smoke trail. A labourjack of the decommissioned Laika chassis stood outside the hut and looked in through the window. She let out a sigh of relief and silently told herself that the Khadoran Laikas weren't built for fighting, so there wasn't much danger in it. Their primitive cortexes, the magical and mechanical brains that allowed 'jacks to function, knew very little beside how to transport wooden logs. Elsa was beginning to feel the exhaustion from casting magic earlier. Being on the run, she hadn't felt it creep up on her, but now it hit all at once, and it was combined with the unusual nature of her day, so she almost passed out right then and there. She took a few minutes to consider her options. Weave a spell to protect her from the cold and sleep out here where wolves, bears or worse would probably eat her, not to mention the fact that she probably wouldn't be able to maintain the spell in her sleep and would have a massive headache tomorrow if she did? Or go inside and beg to sleep in the stranger's hut and hope he wouldn't harm her? Neither of those options seemed preferable.

After a bit of careful consideration, Elsa knocked on the door of the hut. She had thought a lot about it, but sleeping outside was probably the worst idea in existence for anybody unseasoned in the arts of survival in the wilderness, and it would probably be a lot easier to defend against two men than it would be against whatever would come around if she slept outside. The conversation stopped for a second and Elsa could clearly her someone asking "Are we expecting company Sven?"

-"Gee, I don't know, Kristoff, are we?" another voice asked, sort of as an answer. Footsteps sounded, moving in the direction of the door.

-"Well, whoever it is, we better find out, don't you think? It's so rare we get company out here anyways," the first voice answered, and another small pause initiated, the only sounds that of the wind howling and several locks unlocking from the other side of the door.

The man who opened was tall and blonde. He was dressed in a woollen sweater and a pair of blackened leather pants that might have been brown at some point. He wasn't exactly handsome, but he was no troll either. "Hi! I'm Kristoff," the man said and extended his right hand. "What brings you to our household?"

Elsa shook his hand, flashing him a nervous smile. "Elsa," she just said simply and looked up at him. He was easily two heads taller than her, a mountain of a man. "I was wondering if I could spend the night here. I've been on the move the entire day, and I have nowhere else to stay," she continued and wrapped her arms around herself, making sure to conceal the stolen axe.

-"You look like you were mauled by a dire troll!" the man named Kristoff exclaimed and hurried her inside. The hut was constructed of wood, and the fireplace cast a cosy glow inside. There was a small table in the middle of the room with two chairs and a dresser at the end of a large bed. Off to the side, there was a couch and a rocking chair, positioned nicely in front of the fire. He looked to the Laika standing outside and said "Look Sven! It's a woman!" Elsa looked around and couldn't see anyone else in here. Was Kristoff talking to the 'jack outside? She had heard of people talking to 'jacks when giving them commands, but the simple-minded automatons had no feelings and few of them could reason beyond what they were told to do, so there really was no reason to talk any further with them. "A woman! Such fancy company. Better find the pretty plates then!" It was the second voice Elsa had heard that responded. But it was coming from Kristoff himself. Elsa felt a slight shiver running down her spine as she considered the ramifications of this. The steamjack outside, which was apparently named Sven vented steam and ground some gears together in some imitation of a groaned reply. Elsa quickly looked around and scanned the room to make sure she wasn't just telling herself stuff. To her disappointment, she found the room completely empty aside from herself and Kristoff. The tall man walked over to the pot that contained some bubbling liquid and was positioned over the fireplace. "You're here right in time for dinner, Elsa! Quite lucky," he said and pulled some bowls out of the cupboard that hung over the fireplace. He poured some soup into each of them, in turn placing them on the table behind him. "Please, sit down," he continued and moved to one of the chairs himself.

-"Kristoff, I want some food, too!" the man exclaimed once again in the other voice he used. Elsa sat down and eyed him closely as he replied himself with "I'm gonna top you off on coal before I go to bed, okay?" once again followed by a groaning reply from the 'jack outside. She looked down into the soup, poking around in it with her spoon for half a minute to make sure she knew most of the ingredients in it. "Carrot soup," Kristoff said and started eating, humming some song in-between bites. Elsa didn't seem to recognize the song, and she didn't say anything to him during the meal.

When Kristoff finished his soup, he stood up and tossed the bowl onto a table that was filled with other dirty plates and bowls, some of which had clearly been there for several days. "I'm gonna go top Sven off. You take the bed, I'll sleep on the couch," he said and put on his coat and walked outside. Once again, Elsa did not answer and she felt like the most impolite person on Caen. She quickly finished her soup and carefully placed her bowl to the side of the stack of dirty dishes that she was sure was going to topple at any second. She then went to the bed and pulled off her coat, her boots and her gloves, placing it all in a neat pile to the side, out of the way. She crawled into the bed and made sure the stolen axe could not be seen. She fell asleep to the sound of Kristoff talking to himself, alternating between his own and Sven's voice.


	3. Chapter 3

**A Cursed Gift, Chapter 3**

* * *

Elsa woke up early. She was a lot more tired than you would think she'd be after actually sleeping for what she estimated to be six or seven hours. She looked toward the couch where Kristoff should be sleeping. Sure enough, the tall blonde man was still asleep, but Elsa was not sure how long that would last. Looking out of the window, she spotted the Laika named Sven, still looking in through the window. It sputtered a gout of steam, sounding like a fog horn, as it saw that she had woken up and looked directly at her, those big eyes glowing yellow like every other Khadoran 'jack's. Kristoff woke up as a result of the loud venting. "What is it Sven?" he asked, his voice still thick with sleep as he turned around to look in the direction his 'jack was looking.

-"Elsa is awake, you told me to wake you up when she did," he answered himself, once again altering his voice to sound like another person's.

-"She doesn't need to know I told you that!" he yelled back at the Laika, scolding it for what he apparently considered to be the laborjack's mistake. He then sighed and planted a hand softly against his forehead, looking as if he was giving up. Elsa didn't wait for long before she started to pull her jacket and shoes back on, and Kristoff responded to this by turning towards her. "Good morning Elsa. I'm sorry you had to hear that. Sometimes Sven is really hard living with," he said, explaining it in a way that made Elsa slightly uncomfortable. He really sounded like the steamjack had a mind of its own.

-"It's okay," she said with a slight smile and moved towards the door "Thank you very much for giving me food and letting me stay the night," she continued and opened the door. Kristoff waved his hands in a series of gestures and Sven started to stomp away from the window, moving towards the front of the cabin.

-"Where do you think you're going?" he asked. "My hospitality isn't free," he continued and started to move towards Elsa, his eyes seemingly darker. Elsa gulped and smiled nervously, looking out of the door where Sven had already positioned itself. Stammering she started to speak "Wh-what do you want then?"

-"I'm a woodcutter. Help is always needed, and I've seen that you already have an axe. Help me today and your debt is paid," he explained and pulled out a chair. "Now, sit down and eat some breakfast. No one can cut wood on an empty stomach," he continued and got some bread and meat from the cupboards. Elsa was not entirely sure what to do. On one hand, there wasn't anything wrong with going to cut wood with Kristoff and Sven, even if Kristoff seemed mentally unstable. But on the other hand, it would take one more day before she could save her county and resume being a duchess. 'Resume', she thought to herself. That's right, right now she wasn't even a duchess. The sooner things returned to normal, the better, and she guessed she could create an ice barrier Kristoff couldn't chase her through, but laborjacks of the Laika chassis were built to resist cold so they could work for hours on end in the Northern parts of Khador, so she wasn't entirely sure she would be able to stop Sven.

* * *

About an hour later, Kristoff and Sven were heading toward their usual logging place, the former duchess in tow. It didn't seem, however, that Kristoff was even remotely aware of the fact that he had a LLaelese noblewoman with him. Elsa didn't know the first thing about chopping wood, and she had voiced her concern to Kristoff, who had simply shrugged it off and said "You'll learn in no time!"

After an hour and a half, they reached the logging site, and Kristoff started marking out some trees with a splosh of orange paint that he had brought. After marking ten trees in total, he approached Elsa. "Now that Sven has his work cut out for him, the two of us can take some time to get you familiar with the fine art of cutting wood," he grinned and got Sven's attention, waving a series of commands that finished with pointing at one of the marked trees. The large 'jack hafted the abnormally large wood cutter's axe that it had brought with it again and groaned in confirmation before moving to a tree, felling it in two fast, simple strokes. Elsa gawked at it. Sven's cortex had to be more advanced than that of a regular Laika. Laikas normally didn't even know which end was up on an axe, much less how to use it or fell a tree so quickly. Sven hauled the trunk to the middle of the clearing and started to chop it up into smaller logs, after which it would probably go back to another tree and repeat the process.

Kristoff grabbed Elsa by the hand and pulled her to a nearby pine tree. "You do like this," he said and showed her with his hands exactly where to cut the tree, and then he raised his axe, giving an example of what he had just shown Elsa. The tree groaned and fell to the side as Kristoff yelled "Timber!" merely twelve strokes of his axe later. "Now, you're not experienced, and your axe is clearly made for war rather than cutting wood, so I only expect you to take care of one tree. When your tree has fallen, cut it up into 12-inch logs and then come see me," he explained and then walked off without another word. Elsa hafted her axe and went to work, just like Kristoff had shown her.

Elsa was exhausted well before the tree was ready to fall. She had barely reached the middle part of what she had been instructed to do when she started wondering why she was brought here if she was only expected to cut down one tree. Surely Sven would be able to do so a lot faster. Maybe Kristoff just wanted the company? That might be a possible explanation. After her short break, Elsa stood back up and continued chopping. Another hour passed and she was ready to yell "Timber!" as the tree fell. A loud snap and some groaning later, the tree crashed to the ground and Elsa felt a strange sense of satisfaction that she hadn't really felt in years. Acting on the impression that this satisfaction came from doing hard, physical work, the former duchess immediately started to chop the trunk into smaller logs. Halfway through the trunk, she sat down on one of the logs and looked up into the sky. Her arms ached with the physical labor, but it was nice. It was already getting late, and a few stars were starting to show themselves. She hadn't noticed the time passing, and she was beginning to question how long they were supposed to be out here. Her stomach was beginning to growl, too as she hadn't eaten anything since Kristoff had brought her a loaf of bread and some dried meat around dinner time. Deciding that she'd have to cut the trunk up completely before they'd go home, she hopped down from the log and hafted her axe once again and walked in the direction of the tree.

* * *

Elsa had just raised her axe to strike and chop the last log, she heard a low rumbling growl from the woods around her. There were a lot of dangerous animals and beasts in these parts of the forest, and Elsa had read a bit about a few of them, especially from Victor Pendrake's Monsternomicon, but she hadn't actually met any of them before. Hafting the axe in one hand, she started to weave the signs for cold and barrier, wrapping them around her wrist in a bracelet of glowing, swirling runes as she started to back away towards the clearing she knew Sven was in.

She had barely backed away ten feet when a tree beside her exploded in a shower of wooden shrapnel. Elsa threw up the barrier she had prepared and caught all the shrapnel, making sure she didn't get hurt. Amid the still flying wooden splinters, a bipedal ape-like creature with a mane and glowing yellow eyes was sprinting toward her. The young woman turned and ran for her life, trying her best to keep her magic in control and throw some obstacles in the way of the charging beast. She approached the clearing and saw two silhouettes around a campfire, one large enough to be a 'jack, so she concluded that it had to be Kristoff and Sven. "Help!" she shouted and shot a glowing blast of ice magic into the air to signal her position. She could see commotion between the two, and the 'jack she assumed was Sven soon stomped in her direction, axe in hand.

When she was out of the woods and Sven had passed her, she turned around to see what was chasing her. It was a Gorax, and a full-grown male at that. Goraxes were foul-smelling ape-like creatures that lived in almost every forest in Western Immoren, and they had been known to rip flesh and steel apart with equal ease. Kristoff surged forward beside her and threw a rifle her way. "Better not get in the mix," he warned her and continued running straight into the fight, shouting commands at Sven.

The earth around Sven and the Gorax shook with each monstrous step, and the Gorax was way too fast for Sven. It dodged blow after blow, then counter attacked and raked its claws across the Laika's hull, tearing deep gashes in the plating and exposing tubes and wires that were needed for the 'jack to actually function. Kristoff had gotten on the opposite side of the Gorax, a position where Sven would be able to see his signalled commands. "Grab its arm!" he shouted at the 'jack and at the same time gave another nonverbal command. Sven feinted left and struck with the axe. The Gorax fell for the ruse and dodged to the right where Sven grabbed it by the wrist. The Gorax roared in pain and snarled at its opponent as bones snapped under the immense pressure from Sven's steam-powered fist. Sven lifted the smaller Gorax off the ground and hurled it, slamming it against a large tree, whose trunk groaned under the strain of having such a large animal thrown at it with the force of a freight train, but the tree still stood. As Sven once again charged at the Gorax, it rose and dodged to the side, putting the tree between itself and Sven. Clearly not expecting that, Sven swung its axe and bit deep into the wood. An almost satisfied expression played across the monster's face, and it jumped on Sven's back, ripping and tearing at the 'jack's hull several times before the 'jack got its axe unburied from the trunk. Sven's limited range of movement, however made it unable to reach the Gorax on its back, and it groaned in frustration, venting steam in large amounts, hoping to disorient its adversary.

Having watched the fighting that had barely lasted five seconds so far, Elsa barely believed her eyes. Sven's cortex was definitely a lot more advanced than that of a standard Laika. It actually knew how to fight, and it even did so well. Sven's only problem was its very limited range of motion, which the Gorax was now taking advantage off. Kristoff had brought his rifle to bear, trying to hit the agile Gorax, and he had done so a couple of times by now, but it didn't seem to faze the thing. Elsa thought of a new thing to try and took a few steps forward. "Kristoff, step back! Let me try something!" she shouted and started to weave the runes for ice and plating. For the first time she would try to wrap her magic around someone else without hurting them. Stretching her hand outwards, the band of swirling runes shot towards Sven and wrapped themselves around its waist, tinting the entire 'jack slightly white. The Gorax's assault slowed down a bit as Sven's plating became reinforced with a thick layer of ice. "Now comes the hard part!" Elsa shouted and felt her head hurt as she started to weave yet another spell, this time the glyphs for ice and spike. She had never before tried to turn a defensive spell like the one coating Sven into an offensive one, and she had only heard of a few instances where someone had even attempted it. Yelling to compensate for the fact that her head felt like it had been hit by a rock, she once again stretched her hand outwards, and the runes that had swirled about her wrist shot forward, and as soon as they hit Sven, her protective spell dissipated and was replaced. Several foot-long ice spikes shot outwards from the 'jacks hull, and, just as Elsa had hoped, impaled the Gorax through more than a few places in its body. It slumped over and died. Elsa let her magic go, and she could feel the strain of her magic pushing against all parts of her body as she passed out.


	4. Chapter 4

**/Author's note: It might be quite a while before I post chapter five. I'm going to a Warmachine/Hordes tournament this week that's actually the Danish Masters qualifier, and I'm pretty nervous, so I'll have to prepare for it/**

* * *

**A Cursed Gift, Chapter 4**

* * *

When Elsa woke next, she had no idea of how long had passed. She was only able to comprehend the fact that her body ached all over, she had scratches everywhere, and she most certainly wasn't in the clearing she had passed out in. Kristoff's heavy breathing and snoring pulled her out of the dreamlike state that she had been in for some time. She realized she had been put back in the bed she had slept in earlier, Kristoff's bed. Kristoff was on the couch, and Sven was, as always, staring in through the window at Elsa. It groaned loudly and vented steam to wake Sven up. It took some time for the large Cygnaran to rise. In that time, Elsa looked around and realized that someone had put all sorts of medical supplies and related things near her, and worst of all, she realized that she was almost completely naked, too. Panicking, she scrambled to look around for her clothes and found that they had been stacked in a very neat pile next to the bed, just like she had done herself during her first night in Kristoff's cabin. Odd. She started to pull some of her clothes back on, just as Kristoff got up from the couch, stretching and yawning. Sven gestured toward Elsa with its head, and Kristoff sighed "You don't have to wake me up if she's still ou-" was all he managed to say before he saw Elsa and a large smile almost cracked his face in two. He practically vaulted over the couch as he sprinted toward the blonde woman and threw his arms around her in a hug. "Praise Morrow you're okay!" he practically yelled in her ears as Elsa started to gently push him away, wincing as some of her cuts and bruises hurt from the hug and strain of pushing Kristoff.

-"How long was I out?" she asked, not even sure if she wanted to know the answer. Her body ached all over, and the medical supplies along with her bruises were not a good sign. And to top it off, she couldn't feel her usual connection to the natural forces that allowed her to tap into her gift of magic.

-"Two days," Kristoff said and took a step away. "We were worried about you, especially Sven," he continued and immediately started cleaning up the medical supplies, still sounding as if Sven was an actual living person. Elsa had to admit, though, that Sven seemed much more intelligent than any other 'jack she had ever met, and she was still a bit shocked that anything based on the Laika chassis had been able to fight, and even more impressed was she that it had fought with something that wasn't even a real weapon. Heck, if Sven's cortex was in a proper chassis, she was sure it'd be one of the finest warjacks in all of Western Immoren. "I'm sorry we had to take off some of your clothes. We had to if we wanted to get to all of your wounds," Kristoff said and broke off Elsa's train of thought.

-"Well, thanks for taking care of me," she responded and shot him a smile. Getting out of the bed proved more difficult than it had seemed at first. Her muscles strained against her, and it almost felt as if she was trying to shove glass shards into her feet when they hit the floor. Feeling dizzy, she flopped back against the bed. "I'm still not entirely well it would seem," Elsa said with a sigh, heaving for air as she tried to gather the strength to try and stand again.

A few days passed as Elsa gathered her strength. Sven took care of her, and she told her about the events in Arendelle and how she was probably no longer the duchess of her own county. Sven didn't ask many questions, and the few he asked were about her Gift and her relationship with magic. Elsa had explained how she'd always had it and hers seemed to be more closely linked to her emotions than what was the norm for most humans.

After Elsa got back on her feet, she continued helping Kristoff and Sven chop wood for a couple more weeks. She didn't see much point in going anywhere right now, and she was growing accustomed to how Kristoff treated his laborjack, Sven. She had to admit, though, Sven acted a lot more like an incredibly sophisticated warjack rather than a 'jack dedicated to chopping wood. Except for the fact that her people might be suffering under the Khadoran rule. And she still didn't know what happened to Anna. Oh god, what if something had happened to her? What if she was hurt, lying in some sick tent with grievous wounds, or even… No, Elsa couldn't think like that.

One night, three weeks after the run-in with the Gorax, Elsa was unusually silent during dinner. She usually said a little and praised Kristoff for his cooking skills. "What's on your mind Elsa?" Kristoff asked with clear concern.

Elsa pondered for a bit and took another bite of lamb chop stew before answering. "I'm concerned about my subjects, well, you know, the people of Arendelle. I'm not sure how many survived the Khadoran assault, or even how much of Arendelle is still intact.

-"I see," was all Kristoff said as he resumed eating. Elsa figured it was because Kristoff didn't really have much to do with people in general. Sven just groaned and vented some steam outside, almost seeming like it felt compassion with Elsa's situation.

-"Can I ask you a favour Kristoff?" she asked and looked Kristoff in the eyes when he looked in her direction. When he didn't say anything, Elsa continued, taking his silence as a sign of either curiosity or hesitation. "I want you and Sven to accompany me to Arendelle. Just to see how things are back there. I would go alone, but with the incident with my magic a few weeks ago, I'm not sure I would be able to defend myself without passing out," Elsa explained and waited for Kristoff's reply. He seemed to be lost in thought. After approximately a minute, Elsa got tired of waiting and said "If the money's a problem, I'll pay you whatever you'd make during the duration of the trip there and back."

-"It's not the money, Elsa. I'm not sure Sven and I would be able to defend ourselves either if trouble came along. Especially not against trained soldiers," he started explaining and rose from his chair, going over to the kitchen table and pulled out a rather large chest from underneath. He lifted it up, and it must have been heavy, because even Kristoff seemed to have trouble lifting it. He put the chest on the table with a rather loud thump, and Elsa thought the table might give in and break beneath the weight of the chest. Kristoff opened it and signalled for Elsa to come look. She did as she was told and walked to stand beside the blonde man, looking into the chest. A large spherical object with several connection points for tubes lay inside the chest. It was silvery in color and golden lines streaked across it. Elaborate patterns pulsed with a blue glow that Elsa would only assume was some sort of arcane magic. She had never seen such an object before, but she was almost certain about what it was.

-"Is that?"

-"Sven's original cortex, yes," Kristoff quickly answered, almost cutting her off. "I paid to have it switched out with a top-spec military cortex years ago so Sven would be able to help me defend us if we ever got in trouble. I had not foreseen that he would start developing a personality, though," he continued explaining. "But even with that, I'm not sure if he would be able to pull off protecting the both of us against professional soldiers."

Elsa stood for a minute in complete silence before talking. "What if we get more help?" she asked, still biting her lower lip in thought. Kristoff seemed to consider the proposition.

-"It might work, but we'll either have to pay off a mercenary contract to protect us, find some Cygnaran soldiers that are willing to help us or convince a troll kriel that helping us will either further their own plans or make for a good story," he started ranting. Elsa considered all of his suggestions. She didn't have money to pay off a mercenary contract, and finding Cygnaran soldiers that were just coincidentally passing through Arendelle was incredibly unlikely. The most unlikely of Kristoff's suggestions, however, would be convincing a troll kriel. Trollkin were as well-known for their stubbornness as for their unwillingness to die. A trollkin could grow impossibly old, sometimes even centuries, and as he got older, stones would start forming on his skin. Furthermore, the trollkin were known to be able to withstand injuries that would completely obliterate humans, and then grow back whatever limb they lost. No, the kriels were probably the worst bet.

-"None of those seem very likely," Elsa sighed and went over to the window, signalling Sven to move a bit so she could lean on the windowsill. The 'jack groaned as it always did, but it moved away. "What about one of the smaller mercenary contracts? You know one of the lesser known ones. I mean, obviously the trollkin would be the best option, but I somehow don't see them easily convinced to help us," she droned on, almost sounding like she was giving up.

Behind her, Kristoff smiled, and Sven vented a series of very short puffs of steam, something Elsa had come to know as the 'jack's version of a chuckle. Puzzled, she turned around and looked at the tall man quizzically. "I just so happen to be pretty good friends with a local kriel," he said and beamed a smile at her.

-"You? Friends with a kriel?" Elsa asked, not really believing her own ears. The thought of a human being friends with a kriel was absurd. Yeah, Viktor Pendrake was known to be around a few trollkin, but she highly doubted even he could call an entire kriel his friends, so why in Morrows name would a simple woodsman like Kristoff be able to?

-"Yeah, Sven and I helped them out against an attack from one of those druid clans from the forest one," Kristoff explained. He started walking around, stuffing clothes and other necessities into a backpack. "But we'll have to go now. This particular kriel migrates a lot, and I don't know exactly where they'll be if we don't."

-"Okay, let's go see these 'trollkin friends' of yours," Elsa said, a little sarcasm in her voice. She then followed Kristoff's example and started packing a few things in a spare backpack Kristoff had lying around. Once ready, they both went outside and strapped their packs to Sven's sides before Kristoff ordered it to pick up its axe and follow as he lead the trio further west.


End file.
